Rematch Set

CHARLO — Charlo’s football team didn’t look like a squad that hadn’t crossed the state quarterfinal hurdle since 2001 on Saturday.

After a slow first quarter, the Vikings offense caught fire to the tune of a 60-14 demolition of visiting Culbertson-Bainville.

The Charlo defense jumped all over the much larger Cowboys, seeing four players—Jade Smith, Jacen Petersen, Tyler Delaney and Tristan Santee—record double-digit tackles.

Delaney especially came up huge for the Vikings, coming in from his safety position to record 11 tackles and forcing a fumble.

“We worked all week on a blitz package with him. We probably haven’t blitzed with him all year because in our division, if you blitz, you die by it,” Vikings coach Mike Krahn said. “Tyler knew he was going to get in there and have to play between the guards. He’s tougher than people would think with him being a speed guy.”

Charlo shut down C-B drives on fourth down on four separate occasions, including two huge stops deep in their own territory in the first half.

“We had two opportunities down by the goal line that didn’t go our way,” David Helmer, the Cowboys coach said. “It would have been a difference.”

According to Helmer, Charlo’s team speed was the difference.

“We came in knowing we were bigger and stronger than they were,” Helmer said, and he wasn’t kidding—the Cowboys boast seven players over 200 pounds to Charlo’s one, lineman Maverick Nelson.

“Usually that works for us,” Helmer added. “It didn’t work this time. These guys are quick and they’re tough.”

Charlo’s Michael Delaney completed just six passes, but four of them went for touchdowns. The sophomore QB also caught a scoring pass from Petersen on a trick play just before halftime. It was Petersen’s second touchdown pass in as many games.

The Vikings, 8-man football’s home warriors for this playoff run, will roll out the carpet for Southern C top-seed Ennis on Saturday.

The unbeaten Mustangs ended Charlo’s 2012 season, and Krahn and the Vikings are looking for revenge.

“It’s kind of like the elephant in the room,” Krahn said. “We didn’t want to talk about it, but we were all hoping it was going to happen.”

Ennis hasn’t played a game closer than 28 points, and the Mustangs outscored playoff opponents Drummond and Simms 126-0 in the first two rounds of the postseason.

“Ennis has rolled over everybody, but we’ll check them out and put a game plan together and see what we can do,” Krahn said.

One of the big keys for the Vikings will be Tristan Santee, who caught two touchdown passes, intercepted two Cowboys pass attempts and made 13 tackles on Saturday. The 6-0, 180-pound receiver only played defense last season, but the Charlo coaching staff discovered him as a wideout when they put him on the Ennis scout team to simulate the Mustangs’ big weapon, Connor Sullivan.

Now the big senior will be charged with stopping Sullivan on defense and trying to beat him over the top on offense.

“He matches up well with some of their big kids,” Krahn said. “I think he’ll be excited to be on the varsity [offense] instead of replicating them on scout team.”

Score by Quarter

C-B 0 8 0 6 — 14

Charlo 8 28 16 8 — 60

Scoring Summary

C — C. Couture 10 pass from M. Delaney (T. Delaney run)

C —Santee 30 pass from M. Delaney (run failed)

C — Petersen 30 pass from M. Delaney (M. Delaney run)

CB — Cochran 75 kick return (pass complete)

C — Santee 11 pass from M. Delaney (pass failed)

C — M. Delaney 37 pass from Petersen (T. Delaney run)

C — T. Delaney 79 kick return (Santee pass from M. Delaney)

C — Petersen 32 pass from M. Delaney (Long run)

CB — Cochran 4 run (pass failed)

C — J. Smith 27 run (C. Couture run)